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Battlestations: Pacific
Battlestations: Pacific is an action and real-time tactics video game published by Eidos Interactive and developed by Eidos Hungary. It is also the sequel to the 2007 video game Battlestations: Midway. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on May 12, 2009 in North America, and on May 15, 2009 in Europe and Australia. Gameplay Battlestations: Pacific expands on Battlestations: Midway in several ways, adding new combat features such as island invasions, which have effects on the battle at hand. New weapons, planes, and ships were added, such as HVAR rockets and experimental jet fighters, including the Kikka and Shinden, along with kamikaze aircraft, such as the Ohka and Kaiten; there are also some more conventional aircraft and ship additions. Battlestations: Pacific shifts events beyond Midway for the American forces as they continue the war onwards to Okinawa, but the most drastic addition is that of the Japanese campaign, which tells a "what if" story in which Japan is victorious at Midway and continues their war effort beyond that point to invade Hawaii. Multiplayer Battlestations: Pacific will feature five new multiplayer modes that can be played with or against other humans or AI-controlled characters online or offline. *Island capture - spend your points on ships, submarines, planes, landing craft and the like. Use them to fight your way through enemy defenses and capture the islands. Certain islands unlock certain unit classes, such as battleships. First team to control all of the islands wins. The size of the map sometimes influences the units available (e.g a large map may have large battleships, submarines and the like but small maps have destroyers and cruisers (and maybe battleships) and medium map has similar units to those available on small maps). (Only mode with paratroopers) *Duel - similar to free-for-all. Same units vs each other until one is left. *Competitive - everyone is on the same team and battles to out-score each other with enemy kills. *Siege - one team holds and must defend an island stronghold. The other team must capture it in a specified time limit. *Escort - one team must protect a key unit until it reaches its target and the other team attempts to destroy it in any way possible. Plot The game is set between the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor in 1941, to the Battle of Okinawa, 1945. For the Japanese campaign, the game is set from the attacks on Pearl Harbor to Midway and to an invasion of Hawaii, featuring over 28 single player missions total, 14 for America and 14 for Japan. For the American campaign, the game is set from the end of Midway to Okinawa. The gameplay features a historically accurate story while playing the American campaign and a historically plausible Japanese campaign, which involves a storyline of what could have been if the Japanese had won Midway and other major battles. Development The game's graphics engine has been overhauled. Details now include such things as foliage upon islands, water becoming transparent at shallow depths and a new cockpit view mode. The game's damage model and physics engine, specifically the water based physics, have been redeveloped to a much higher level of realism than that of its predecessor. Ships split in two, smokestacks and crewmen could be blasted overboard. The wings, tails and engines can be shot off planes. The games now includes several different types of environment effects, most notably the addition of night, day and other weather effects Over 100 playable units are included A Japanese campaign which reflects plans that the Japanese had constructed if the pacific war had turned in their favour is also included with the historical US campaign. The usability of the game has gained developer attention, with the learning-curve being shortened and the tabs for launching units and repairs was simplified. Release Battlestations: Pacific was released on May 12th 2009 in North America (in some areas, the game will be released on may 13th), and on May 15th 2009 in Europe and Australia2. A demo for Battlestations: Pacific was released on the 30th April 2009 for the PC and Xbox360. The demo contained a mission from the US single player campaign as well as 2 multiplayer modes to play in Skirmish mode. *The first official trailer *The second official trailer *The third official trailer *The fourth official trailer *The war machines trailer *The first Podcast episode Reception On Metacritic the PC version of the game has got 74 out of 100 and the Xbox 360 has got 76 out of 100. Eurogamer gave the game a 7/10 stating that "Battlestations: Pacific still has much to recommend underneath the flaws...the pleasures it does offer are enhanced by the knowledge that it's still the only game offering them." Videogamer gave the game a score of 8/10 stating that "There's no questioning the fact that Battlestations: Pacific occupies a relatively unique place in the games market, and that it probably benefits considerably from the resulting freshness." However it also commented upon the games "choppy" moments, criticising the voice-acting as being "pretty cringe-worthy." Gamespot gave the game 8/10 summarising that Battlestations: Pacific "is a sequel done right: It's just as fun, but it's bigger, broader, and more fully realized." The Official Xbox Magazine gave the game a 7/10, Team Xbox awarded the game an 8.9/10 concluding that "Battlestations: Pacific is a highly rewarding experience for those who like their action with a heavy dose of strategy." but it also criticised some "gimmicky" elements. Boomtown gave the game a 9/10. X-Play gave the game a 4/5. Eidos has acknowledged some small technical issues with the game and has confirmed that it is currently developing a patch to fix said issues which will be released before any other downloadable content. Category:Modern Category:Eidos Interactive